Planetary Rights

The International Flag of the Planet Earth

In May 2015 a Swedish artist, Oskar Pernefeldt,[12] formally proposed the International Flag of the Planet Earth.[13] It was conceived to be used in space expeditions and it has two main purposes:

To be used while representing planet Earth.

To remind the people of Earth that we share this planet, no matter of national boundaries. That we should take care of each other and the planet we live on.

The creators predict that it will be eventually used in Mars landing in 2025 or in a future colony on that planet. The design of the flag consists of seven rings intersecting each other and a deep-blue-sea in the background. The rings are centered on the flag forming a flower in the middle, representing life on Earth. The intersection of the rings represent that all things on Earth are linked directly or indirectly. The rings are organized in a Borromean rings–like fashion,[citation needed] representing how no part of Earth can be removed without the whole structure collapsing. Finally, the deep-blue represents the ocean and the importance of water for life on Earth.

This book might be a great help in understanding why humans are destroying Nature. The quote below makes a connection that has gone over my head until a few days ago.

“From time immemorial, just as today, the underclass and the powerless have been forcibly limited from accessing resources for their own material advantage. It is thus injustice toward the more-than-human world – stripping it into being-for and value-for people (“resources”) that constitutes the foundation of social injustice and inequality.” Eileen Crist in “Keeping the Wild”

This book might be a great help in understanding why humans are destroying Nature. Is it not rather bizarre and crazy-making that whilst we, as just one species of many, have given ourselves the right to slash and burn, poison and desecrate as we choose whilst energetic and physical essence that we depend on for our very existence has no rights whatsoever?

“Deranger: The river systems are the life, and … grandmother moon, grandfather sun— everything is alive. When you’re raised with that relationship, that the foxes are your cousins and the eagles are your brothers, you start to have a totally different relationship and interaction with everything around you. And so much of humanity has lost that. But indigenous people have retained it somehow.

If you kill the land, the waterways, the air and culture of those people, you essentially kill those people. And that, in fact, is the definition of genocide.” Eriel Deranger of Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation

People from the United States are called Americans just as people from Spain are called Spaniards. The word Spaniard is descriptive. Within it are connotations that tell us generally a lot about the language they probably speak, where they live geographically, the variety of foods and wines locally available and, providing we were informed, a lot about their past experiences as a group. Huge numbers of residents would admit that they love their country and would gladly serve in a military capacity to save their families and country from destruction.

Similarly, humans are Earthlings. Knowing that a person is an Earthling also reveals a lot about how they live and think. Unfortunately, however, being a human does not carry the same associative value as being a Spaniard or American. The Spanish, for instance, share an organised and regulated social cohesion. Most citizens accept the rule of law and benefits and limitations on the rights of citizenship. Spanish interests fall within the guidelines enforced by national and international law. Even a corporation has been given the legal standing of a person.

Being an Earthling however carries none of the above. A country is free to not only assume the right to destroy, for instance a huge rainforest or heavily pollute the air on its way around the globe, but does so and has been doing so for many years with impunity. The many examples of these atrocities are so extremely well known by a great number of people all around the globe that there is no need to list them or explain them here. Although we know and do our measure of tsk, tsk whilst our relatives are killed in a gigantic twister or a whopping typhoon or the American Southwest is doomed to experience devastating desertification because the transpiration of millions of trees that at one time turned into moisture that was carried on high by global wind currents and dropped in the Southwest now carry “hot air”.

“I’ve been severely criticized for saying worms are more important than people… I made that statement intentionally. Why? Because it’s true. Worms are more important than people because they can live on the earth without us. We cannot live without them. Bees are more important than we are. We can’t live without them. They can live without us. That’s what we have to realize and understand. That if we’re going to survive on this planet, we have to respect the rights of all of those species to survive. Because we need them more than they need us.”

“Deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon rainforest has increased almost sixfold, new data suggests.”

“Last December, a government report said deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon had fallen to its lowest rate for 22 years.”

“Proponents of change say the law impedes economic development and contend that Brazil must open more land for agriculture.”

Trees are the primary trigger mechanism for a reverse trend in global warming. The earth’s orbit and tilt provide the background conditions but are not enough to provide the tipping point on their own. Yes, this is theoretical but the best information we have at the moment and the moment for action is rapidly slipping away. Actually, it may have already passed and we may have missed a whole glacial/interglacial period.

Waiting for certainty is not a solution. Think about it. When the medical doctor suggests a treatment based on his/her judgement, you don’t disregard it because there is no certainty. We are dealing here with Gaia, a living organism. There are so many aspects of living organism behaviour that just don’t fit into the scientific instrumentation parameters. That doesn’t make them invalid.

On another note, isn’t it about time that we get together and consider planetary rights? Does a sovereign nation have the right to destroy that which is shared and that which is vital to the welfare of all lifeforms in the planet? Personally, I don’t honour the rights of another country to poison the air I breathe and the water needed for my body and the food I must consume.